


Crow

by disillusionist9



Series: Choose Dare [46]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Magizoology, Ministry of Magic, Post-War, Revolution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 10:43:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7931605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disillusionist9/pseuds/disillusionist9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabble #47 of 100 | Luna tests the Ministry after the fall of Voldemort, and Percy knows they've failed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crow

"I beg your pardon?"

"We've got a report of a few dozen crows circling that rook tower in Ottery St. Catchpole," repeated the young intern, who'd barely knocked before entering Percy's office.

"...and you've come to the Head of the Department for Transportation over this flock of birds."

"A murder, sir. A murder of crows."

Biting back a reprimand on the overall rudeness of the intrusion on the office of a Department Head for Merlin's sake, about something that was decidedly Not His Job, Percy remained silent so the girl could continue. The sealed roll of parchment in her hand was purple; the document was from Minister Shacklebolt's office.

"The D.C.R.M.C has reason to believe they arrived by illegal Portkey," she said, switching the scroll from one hand to the other.

Percy held out one smooth, manicured hand to receive the document before her sweaty fingers could mangle it. The girl, last name Knight according to her name tag, standard issue for summer interns, looked bereft without something to fiddle with.

Eyes darting over the page once, twice, then three times, Percy allowed the missive to roll back to the original shape with a snap. He stood from his desk, placing the scroll inside his blazer pocket. "Your work is done here, please return to your supervisor to let them know I'll send my best."

In a final show of bad manners, the intern darted out of the office at the same time Percy reached his hand out to shake. Unable to resist the urge to frown, he left the office in a much fouler mood than he'd arrived.

Percy was familiar with the rook house in Ottery St. Catchpole. As a child he knew it as the strange home, with stranger people, who lit fireworks every equinox. He'd not been around on an equinox in many years but the house looked just as he remembered, though the crows littered around the yard were a marked addition.

Standing in the center of a man-made ring of rocks, a barefoot woman faced skyward, several of the black feathered birds perched on her outstretched arms or shoulders.

" _Corvus kubaryi_ ," she said by way of greeting. "The Mariana crow. Endangered."

Percy stopped a few yards from the circle of stones to regard her, a woman who'd fought alongside Harry, his brother, and his sister against Death Eaters at fourteen. He'd found her fierce before, with her long blonde hair, peircing eyes, and calculating approach to the world. Now, as a perch for five crows watching his every move, and at least thirteen more surrounding them on the property, she was ethereal, a living depiction of the Morrígan.

"From the South Pacific, as I understand," he said, his voice low and smooth to cause the least amount of distress through the watchful birds.

She hummed in agreement. Luna hadn't opened her eyes, choosing to face the sky with closed lids, exposing the lines of her neck and collarbone in a pale arch, contrasting distinctly to the bird's blue-black feathers.

"Miss Lovegood?"

One eye glanced at him, and a smile ghosted over her lips. "Luna."

Percy cleared his throat and adjusted the file folder under his arm. "Very well. Luna, you are aware we live in England, correct? These birds were transported by illegal Portkey to an island without the right climate."

"Travelling by stone circle isn't illegal."

"Not in," he glanced at his notes, "the South Pacific. But they're monitored here, Miss Lovegood-"

"Luna."

"Luna, yes, so you've committed quite a few offenses today. Transportation of black market goods across international borders by an illegal method."

"You're Head of Transportation, not an Auror. Am I not getting arrested?"

Percy's voice caught in his throat for a moment. She sounded disappointed she wasn't being hauled off for booking, and he found that odd even by Luna Lovegood's extraordinary standards.

"Well, uh, no. I technically can't charge you with anything, but given your position in the magical community and the singularity of this case, they asked I investigate instead of sending an Auror."

In a flash, Luna dropped her arms, allowing the crows to fly towards the others in the dirigible plum bushes, and turned to fully face the redhead. Arms crossed and jaw set, Luna met him gaze for gaze unblinkingly. Percy watched a few of the stones around her tremble from the wash of power flowing from her.

"It's true the Ministry the functions the same as before. I'll take the crows back now."

Her final words were exactly what he wanted to hear, so why did the first few feel like a punch to the gut?

Luna collected the birds and cast a spell in a language he wasn't familiar with before he had the chance to question her further. The radar spell on his paperwork read the misdemeanor as satisfied, without a permanent mark on the woman's record.

Returning to his office and his neatly ordered desk for the remainder of the afternoon, Percy found he couldn't get the image of the woman, thronged by endangered crows trusting her implicitly, out of his mind. Even stronger than the image was the pull of the idea she was the Morrígan, the war goddess, an embodiment of violence and death.

Percy trusted his head over his heart, but his gut warned him this would not be the last he heard of Luna Lovegood.


End file.
